


In The Darkness With You

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Paint The Sky With Stars [38]
Category: Night World - Fandom, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Crossover, Fusion, M/M, au - witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-23 00:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7460346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Any, Any, <i>I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map / And knew that somehow I could find my way back / Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too / So I stayed in the darkness with you</i>."</p><p>Aiden Ford goes to Sateda and tries to figure out what his next step is: Atlantis, or not?</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Darkness With You

“Let me know what you find out,” Larrin said.  
  
Aiden nodded, shouldered his pack, and stepped off her ship. He had his Traveler Communicator on him for just that purpose.  
  
The trek to the city was long and hard, but Aiden hadn’t wanted to gate in or otherwise be detected. He was there to gather information to see if any of his plans had merit.  
  
Sateda was a wreck. It had been great once, beautiful once. The buildings forming the central urban skyline had been tall and proud, but now they were crumbling, ravaged initially by Wraith weapons fire and further damaged by time.  
  
But Sateda was growing again. Aiden had seen, as Larrin’s little shuttle was coming in to land, on the outskirts of the city, some square patches of tilled earth for small farms. And as Aiden headed toward the central square, he saw that the worst of the rubble had been cleared out, that tents were set up in orderly rows on one side of the square, and some booths and stalls were set up on the other side of the square. In the middle of the square was a what looked like a massive buffet table lined with dishes of raw ingredients. At the far end of the table was a giant circular slab of metal, and several people were standing around it, overseeing sizzling food.  
  
Aiden’s mouth watered. Mongolian barbecue. He hadn’t even thought about it in years. He wondered if this was just the Pegasus equivalent or if this was a result of that one Earth-based soldier, Evan, sharing Earth culture. Aiden had to admit it was an efficient way to feed lots of people. It seemed like the entire population of Sateda - maybe five hundred people? Bigger than the Atlantis expedition, but not by much - had gathered in the square and were lining up, bowls in hand.  
  
Aiden wondered if he could just shuffle into line with them. He had a bowl in his pack. He was wearing bland leathers, would blend in easily enough. But when he got closer, he saw that girl storyteller from before. Marita, her name was. Everyone who passed by her showed her a little ID card. Aiden definitely didn’t have one of those.  
  
When he reached Marita, he showed her his bowl and said, “I don’t have a card. I’m new.”  
  
She frowned. “Did you come through the Ring of the Ancestors? The guards did not report any -” She fumbled for a walkie talkie at her waist. It looked like Genii tech, not Earth tech. “Border Patrol, this is Marita. Do you copy?”  
  
Earth terms. Earth radio voice protocol. Aiden sensed Evan’s hand in a lot of what was going on. And yet the rumors were that the Satedan Old Gods had returned. Were the Satedans counting Evan as one of these Old Gods? How? And why? No one Aiden had spoken to had been very clear on what it meant to be one of the Old Gods, because they were from before the time of the Ancestors.  
  
“Marita, this is Border Patrol. Sit rep? Over.” Border Patrol was also a woman. Interesting.  
  
“I have an immigrant in the food line. Over,” Marita said.  
  
“Gate hasn’t activated all shift. Check with The Chieftain. Uh, over.”  
  
They were really abusing the whole ‘over’ thing.  
  
“He really hates it when we call him that.” Marita looked unhappy. “But thanks. Um. Over and out.”  
  
“Roger that.”  
  
Marita paused, and Aiden could see she was literally counting under her breath while she switched to a different frequency. “Marita to Lorne. Do you copy?”  
  
“Go for Lorne.”  
  
Aiden’s chest lurched. He’d heard that a thousand times on Atlantis, just that cadence and response. This Lorne was an Earth-based soldier too. How many had defected from Atlantis?  
  
“I have an immigrant in the food line, but Danisa reports no Ring activation.”  
  
“Keep the food line moving,” Lorne said. “I’ll be right there. Lorne out.”  
  
Marita nodded at the walkie talkie and clipped it back on her belt, asked Aiden to stand aside, and continued checking IDs for people as they passed by, bowls in hand. She could greet most of them by name, though - the IDs were mere formalities.  
  
Lorne, as it turned out, was Evan, and Ronon the giant came with him.  
  
Ronon drew his blaster pistol. “Aiden Ford.”  
  
“Whoa!” Evan put a hand on his arm, then paused. “Wait, Lieutenant Ford?”

“He kidnapped me and the rest of Sheppard’s team, sent us to try to take a Hive ship,” Ronon said. “We almost died. His own men died. He was high on Wraith enzyme.”

Evan’s gaze turned flinty, and he stepped between Marita and Aiden, drawing his weapon.

Aiden took a deep breath. “I don’t remember you,” he said. “I don’t remember most of what happened when I was on the enzyme.” He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “If I hurt you, I’m sorry. I’m just - looking for a fresh start.”

He’d already had his fresh start. He was looking to make sure he had allies in the continued war against the Wraith. Even if he was no longer part of Atlantis, he still had a mission, and it was to end as many Wraith as possible.

“A fresh start, Ronon,” Evan said softly.

Ronon growled, deep and rumbling in his chest.

Aiden flinched. The sound was almost - inhuman.

“But he -” Ronon protested.

“That was before.” Evan lowered his weapon. “If he’s changed, I’m willing to give him a chance.”

No one would have anything bad to say about Aiden, because hardly anyone knew him, as nomadic as he’d been. Only Larrin had some sense of him, from his time teaching her Travelers to be soldiers, and she liked to have leverage on Grounder populations, so she wouldn't tell anyone about him.

Ronon and Evan exchanged looks, unspoken understanding passing between them. Finally, Ronon lowered his weapon.

“Fine. We’ll get him a temporary green card. If he sticks around and helps and checks out, he can apply for permanent citizenship, like anyone else. Marita, let him go through the line and get some food, then have him report to Evan’s office.”

Marita nodded. “Yes, Ronon.”

Ronon turned and walked away, but Evan stayed behind. He smiled at Aiden. He was an attractive man, with blue eyes, dimples, broad shoulders. He was wearing the same practical leathers as the last time Aiden had seen him. He carried an M9 strapped to his thigh, like a soldier, and a walkie, and no other weapons.

“So, Lieutenant Ford. You don’t remember me. You stunned me one time, took McKay hostage,” Evan said. “That was the same day we met Ronon, actually. Funny, how we all ended up here.”

“I heard this place was taking refugees,” Aiden said.

Evan tilted his head, studying Aiden. “You don’t want to go back to Atlantis?”

“I don’t know if they’d have me.”

“A few months ago, I’d have said they’d take you in a heartbeat - after an extensive debriefing.” Evan’s gaze turned distant. “Now I’m not so sure.”

“I’ve been away long enough,” Aiden said, “that I don’t think I could go back to being what I was before. A Marine. Lieutenant Ford. Sheppard’s 2IC.”

Evan slanted him a sidelong glance. “I thought Marines were for life.”

“This is Pegasus.”

“That it is.”

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Aiden began, choosing his words carefully, “why aren’t you still on Atlantis? You’re - what, a captain?”

“Major, actually. Sheppard’s 2IC too. And I left Atlantis - well, how much did you know about Sheppard?” Evan’s gaze was assessing.

Aiden was momentarily distracted by reaching the buffet table. “Oh man. It’s been so long since I’ve had Mongolian barbecue. There’s a real art to stacking a bowl, you know?”

Evan smiled faintly. “That there is. Ronon thought I was crazy at first, instituting a nightly central meal, but it keeps us together, helps us do a headcount to make sure no one’s gotten lost or hurt, and I know everyone gets at least one good meal a day after all the hard work. Once the farms are producing better, they can start making traditional Satedan food again, but till then, this is it.”  
  
Once Aiden had built a stable nest of meat and noodles, he started piling on the vegetables that he recognized. “So...Sheppard? What do you mean? Like, I knew he had it super bad for McKay, but, you know, regs.”

Evan stiffened, and Aiden wondered if he’d overstepped his bounds. He’d seen Evan kissing Ronon, after all.

“I didn’t know he had it super bad for McKay,” Evan said. “Somehow I don’t think many people did. Teyla, maybe. But not most people. Not till...later.”

“They hooked up?”

Evan nodded.

“And Sheppard didn’t get busted?”

Evan cast Aiden another look. “No, because - did you know what Sheppard _was?_ ”

“Oh, you mean a vampire? Yeah, I saw him, that time he fed on McKay. After the Iratus bug tried to kill him. Beckett gave us the whole Night World Is A Thing speech, but apart from that one time Sheppard fed on McKay, he was...normal. Beckett used his magic to heal us a lot, but it wasn’t too weird.” Aiden eyed him. “Is that why you left? Couldn’t handle the whole vampire thing?”

“Did Carson tell you about Night World politics?” Evan asked.

“No. He just said witches and vampires and werewolves were a thing but it wouldn’t change things much, and it didn’t.”

Evan sighed. “Well, suffice it to say, the Night World has politics, and those managed to trump human politics.”

Aiden paused. Human politics, Evan said. Was he not human? Aiden mentally tracked back a few steps in their conversation.

“Are you saying that Sheppard didn’t get busted for violating regs with McKay because he’s not human?” If Evan had been busted, if he’d cared enough about Ronon to abandon Atlantis for it, that was something to remember and keep an eye on. Handling Ronon right meant getting in good with Evan. Ronon might have been the Pegasus native of the two, but the Satedans clearly looked to Evan for leadership, if their adoption of so many Earth ways was any indication.

“No.” Evan shook his head. “It’s just - in the Night World, not all species are created equal. Sheppard ended up having more of an issue with me than I thought he would, and I had to leave.”

Species. Aiden took a deep breath. “So are you a vampire too?”

“I’m a shapeshifter,” Evan said. “Like a werewolf, only I don’t change into a wolf.”

“Oh. What do you change into? If it’s not too personal.”

“A black jaguar.”

And suddenly Marita’s story, with its lion roar, made a bit more sense. “That’s cool.”

Evan smiled at him. “You sound like some of my other Marines. Come on - get your food cooked, and we can start processing your paperwork in my office. I can catch you up on some Atlantean gossip, if you like. Did you know Teyla had a baby?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. She was sweet on some Athosian guy from the mainland.”

“Good for her.”

“Eat up, Ford. And then we can talk.” Evan turned when someone called his name, answered, but he cast Aiden a knowing look before he walked away.

He was giving Aiden a chance to ask around, find out about the setup on Sateda. Aiden was going to take it. If he couldn’t go back to Atlantis, maybe he could make a home here.


End file.
